Two steelmakers are asking a federal appeals court to revisit a three-judge panel’s split denial of their bid to freeze implementation of updated EPA air toxics regulations.
In a joint motion filed Friday, Cleveland-Cliffs and U.S. Steel sought a rehearing by the full complement of active judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit of their request for a stay of the stricter regulations. It follows the panel’s 2-1 ruling in October to reject their initial entreaty.
Among the reasons for now seeking en banc review, lawyers for the two companies pointed to the Supreme Court’s June decision to overturn the so-called Chevron doctrine in the case known as Loper Bright v. Raimondo. Under that doctrine, judges were supposed to defer to federal agencies’ technical expertise in the interpretation of ambiguous laws.
In previously denying the steelmakers’ stay request, the majority on the panel “overlooked evidence that EPA committed material errors, made omissions, and relied on misinterpretations of the [Clean Air Act] that depended on overruled Chevron deference to create a fatally flawed Final Rule,” the motion says.
